


Got Me Losing My Cool

by AndreaLyn



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Friends With Benefits, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 02:29:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5691259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndreaLyn/pseuds/AndreaLyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since Poe's last disastrous relationship, he and Snap have had a good arrangement going, which all goes to hell the second Finn enters Poe's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Got Me Losing My Cool

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from a lyric in 'Fool' by BØRNS and [MagpieMorality](http://archiveofourown.org/users/MagpieMorality/pseuds/MagpieMorality) was kind enough to lend a beta hand!

Snap returns from his recon mission to Starkiller right on the heels of the rescue on Takodana. They’re still dismounting and getting settled when Snap arrives, where he’s quick to get his helmet off and search the ground to see if everyone made it back okay. He finds Karé and Iolo, joining them even as he keeps an eye on the tarmac. Iolo and Karé exchange a wry glance, because Snap’s not exactly subtle about what (or who) he’s looking for.

“He’s cleaning up,” she says.

“You might have to fight for his time,” Iolo warns. “There’s a new guy that Poe hasn’t really left alone since he got here. His name’s Finn or something.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Snap replies easily, because in the history of his arrangement with Poe, there’s never really been anyone who changed things.

He really should have known better.

Everything changes from this moment on and it’s all thanks to Finn.

* * *

“Hey,” Snap greets Poe when he finally gets him alone. The others weren’t kidding when they’d said that this Finn guy has been monopolizing all of Poe’s time. It’s taken ages to get to Poe, because Finn had immediately grabbed Poe off the tarmac and now they’re on their way to rescue some girl that Finn knows?

It means they get a run at Starkiller, though, and Snap’s grateful for that.

“Hey, buddy,” Poe greets Snap warmly, coaxing him inside his bunk with a nod of his head while simultaneously pulling off his sweater.

They started doing this a few years ago, after Poe’s last unfortunate scandal of a relationship. The tumultuous end of which had involved very loud exile from his ex-boyfriend’s room, being the unfortunate subject of some really terrible artwork, and Poe’s near-death experience when his X-Wing _mysteriously_ stopped working during a training run. Back then, he and Snap figured out pretty quickly that an arrangement where they both got to blow off steam without getting involved romantically is the best idea to keep everyone safe.

Poe had sworn off relationships entirely after that whole disaster.

Snap sort of just went with it, because Poe’s the most attractive _person_ on the base, let alone guy, and he’s getting regularly laid. He really doesn’t see the downside. 

Snap closes the door behind him, feeling like he could poke Poe about the whole Finn thing, or they could just get down to business, seeing as it’s not like they have much time before shipping out. He goes for the latter and tries not to make too much noise, happy to get off twice and barely noticing that Poe’s mouth definitely formed a new sound when he came that’s not _his_ name.

Snap takes the time to tidy his hair and smooth his jumpsuit before he leaves because their arrangement isn’t a secret, but they’re both about decorum. Behind him, Poe lounges absently on the bed, stretching his toes out as that blissful, sated smile lingers on his lips.

“You meet Finn yet?” Poe asks.

“Just at the briefing, boss,” Snap replies. “He seems okay.”

“He’s great,” Poe murmurs, stretching his whole body out and giving an indecorous moan. “Seriously. I thought I was done for and then he came and busted me out. Then, he takes off his helmet and he looks like that? Snap, I gotta tell you, I’m gonna have some really inappropriate dreams for a while.”

Snap hangs the hand-towel over Poe’s small sink, a little wary of how Poe’s talking. 

“It’s not like he’s Wedge Antilles or anything,” Snap feels compelled to point out. 

“No, he’s better,” Poe admits, draping his arm underneath his head. “You should see him smile,” he says. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone smile with such hopeful beauty before.”

Snap knows if he doesn’t get out of here, he’s going to have to listen to every single lovelorn monologue Poe’s been storing up.

“Hey, listen, Dameron, I wish I could stay, but I promised Testor I’d…”

“I get it,” Poe cuts him off, waving him out the door. “Go. Say hi for me.”

Snap feels like he’d only narrowly avoided an endless litany of Finn’s praises and thanks his lucky stars that Poe’s probably just curled up in his bunk reciting them to himself. Even now, he’s only a little worried. So what if Poe has a crush on the guy who rescued him? They’ve all been there.

It’ll go away.

* * *

It’s definitely not going away.

After Snap’s landed and had his X-Wing taken care of, he searches the base for Poe. Normally, after a successful mission, they can’t keep their hands off each other and this one is more successful than most because they’ve managed to cripple the First Order. He’d panic if not for the fact that he remembers Poe’s all-clear on their way back.

“Hey, Jess,” Snap calls. “Where’d Poe get to?”

She’s currently trying to put out an electrical fire, waving the smoke away from her face. “Medical,” she says.

“He got hurt?”

“No. His boy did,” she replies, and at Snap’s look of confusion, she goes on: “Finn.”

They should be celebrating. They’re always celebrating, with Poe barely able to keep his hands off Snap as they stumble to the nearest bed. His whole body buzzes with the anticipated need that always burns through his skin after a mission, but he trudges towards medical to see if he should bother waiting, only to find Poe helping out the medics as they get Finn set up.

“Hey,” Poe greets him, lifting the IV bag out of the way of a droid. “Sorry, I should’ve told you I wasn’t coming.” His attention slides to the side. “How do you need me to lift him?” And then he’s got both hands on Finn’s body, the IV in Snap’s hands somehow, and his gaze is locked on the way Poe gently cradles Finn’s torso against his chest, resting his chin atop his head. “I don’t think I’m gonna make it for our thing tonight,” he apologizes. “Rain check?”

Snap watches the way Poe absently strokes his thumb over Finn’s neck, seemingly not even aware of how he keeps whispering, ‘it’s okay, everything’s okay, just stay calm’ under his breath, and he starts to get the feeling that this isn’t the only time he’s going to get shafted thanks to Finn.

Still, he smiles and agrees with a nod. “Rain check.”

* * *

Nothing really changes after Rey leaves on the mission to find Skywalker, despite Snap’s fervent hope that it would. Poe still moons over Finn and spends pretty much all his free time at his side, so when Poe turns up at Snap’s bunk with that eyebrow arch that asks if Snap’s up for it, he’s genuinely shocked. “I didn’t think you’d be willing to pencil me in, what with your whole bedside vigilance thing.”

Poe has the audacity to stare at Snap like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Unfortunately, before Snap can pursue the issue, Poe gets naked. He knows, historically, that getting naked pretty much shuts up anyone’s issues, so this is deliberate and planned and kind of as wicked as Poe gets, but Snap’s also been feeling the brunt of the drought, so he’s not about to turn him down.

Later, he promises himself. He’ll push the topic later.

* * *

Finally, Snap can’t take it anymore.

This is what breaks him:

“Remember how you said that we could invite other people? What if I invited Finn as a third into our thing?”

“Okay, that’s it,” Snap says, feeling his patience crumble like a worn twig. “I can’t take this anymore,” he realizes, grabbing the covers as he sits up to reach for his t-shirt. “Honestly, Poe, I mean it. One more second of this would be like torture at the hands of the…” he trails off when he realizes what he’s saying. “I didn’t mean that.”

“No, you did,” Poe replies, the wariness flashing in his eyes. “I don’t get it. You said you didn’t care about thirds.”

“I don’t. I care about the fact that you went and fell in love with some guy and instead of doing something about it, you’re hiding behind our arrangement. Look, Poe,” Snap says as gently as he can, “we all remember the last relationship you had and we all remember how sour it went. Some of us still have the caricatures of your dick…”

“Not true to size.”

“Trust me, I know,” Snap assures. “But if you really like this guy, Poe, I think maybe you and I should break things off and you should give it a go.”

“Snap, it’s not like that. He likes Rey,” Poe says sadly. “He doesn’t want me like that.”

Which is complete and total bullshit, because Snap has _eyes_ , but he guesses that Poe’s modest opinion of what he deserves romantically probably is being overshadowed by the crazy puppy dog eyes Finn keeps shooting Rey.

Only, Snap knows those looks. That’s hero worship, plain and simple. He sees it in every cadet they bring in, when they stare at Poe like he’d personally reached into the sky to hang the stars.

“Poe, I don’t know if he wants you or not, but I can’t do this anymore,” he says, saying words that he’s kicking himself for, but he knows it’s true. He’s exhausted watching Poe try and convince himself that he’s just ogling Finn benevolently and not because he wants him in every way he can get him. “You’re still gonna be my best friend, don’t get me wrong, but I think this is over.”

“Fine,” Poe huffs, his jaw clicking as he closes it sharply. “Get the hell out, then.”

“Poe…”

“No, you said we’re done? Then we’re done.” 

That’s how Snap ends up half-naked with his clothes in his hands outside Poe’s room, being cat-called by all his friends in the middle of the night. And Poe swears he’s not overly dramatic. Snap’s going to call bullshit on that, too.

* * *

After the whole public humiliation affair, Snap makes it his personal business to figure out whether Poe has a shot. 

It’s not like he needs to, given how badly things ended after the whole non-break-up, but Poe’s getting progressively sadder and it just gets pretty pathetic, not to mention it starts to bring down the morale on the base. People are starting to complain and worse than that, people are starting to clue in that Poe and Snap are done and are making plans to muscle their way in. 

If there’s any chance Finn wants Poe, Snap has to make sure he makes a move soon. And besides, Poe’s his friend. Even if things had gone out in a fiery bang, he needs to do right by his friend.

Now that Finn’s out of medical, he spends a lot of his time in the command center helping supply information on the First Order. Snap times it so that he wanders over just before lunch, clapping a hand on Finn’s shoulder to steer him to the mess. “C’mon, lunch is on me.”

“Isn’t it free for everyone?”

“On me,” Snap replies cheerfully, even if it is free. 

It doesn’t take long before Snap gets a pretty clear view about why Poe likes Finn so much. He’s funny, earnest, charming, clever, and yeah, he’s got a really good ass. If this whole thing had just been about sex, he would’ve been pretty quick to accept Poe’s suggestion. He takes a minute to really study Finn’s ass and admits that yeah, he’d probably go there if there weren’t feelings involved.

As it stands if he’d given in, they would have taken Finn to bed and irrevocably crushed Poe’s heart if it turns out that Finn doesn’t have some kind of crush on him.

“Look, do you mind if I ask you something?”

Mouth filled with gelatin and berries, Finn gives him an encouraging look.

“Are you and Rey a thing?”

“What kind of thing?”

“The romantic kind of thing?” Snap isn’t sure they are. For one, they haven’t really been seen much around each other once curfew hits and while there’s definitely a lot of hand-holding going on, she’s not the first person he looks at when everyone’s laughing and it’s not her that he’s seeking out early in the morning after the showers.

Finn’s eyes widen. “Is this some kind of joke?”

“Trust me, it’s dead serious,” Snap promises. “Someone’s heart is on the line. Actually, everyone’s well-being is on the line, because if Poe gets in one more bad relationship, we’re all gonna end up suffering…”

“Poe? What does Poe have to do with any of this? Did he say something about me and Rey?”

“First off, I’m not here on Poe’s behalf, okay? I’m his friend, one of his best friends, but I’m here because I care about him, not because he sent me,” Snap clarifies. “So, do you and Rey have a thing going on?”

“Yeah,” Finn agrees and Snap’s heart sinks. “She’s my best friend.”

And there it is; _hope_.

“So you and her, you’re not together romantically?”

“She’s my best friend. You don’t do that with your best friend. Do you?”

“Some people do,” Snap replies, not wanting to lead Finn down the wrong path just because he wants to make _his_ best friend happy. “Do you want to be that way with her?”

“Like, strip down and have sex and not be with anyone else like that? I just want her to be my friend and I want her to be in my life forever.” Finn’s starting to get frustrated, which is clear by the way he shoves his cutlery onto his plate. “What does any of this have to do with Poe?”

“Well, because, hotshot. Poe does want the strip down and sex and I’m pretty sure he’s keen on building a life together. And I’m just the messenger. So,” he coaxes, giving Finn an expectant look. “Do you like him?”

And are they going to be saved from the dramatic antics of a lovelorn Poe Dameron or is there no hope left?

* * *

“Okay, this is just sad.”

Snap’s rounded the corner to find Poe curled up in the corner of his bunk, fiddling with one of BB-8’s memory units. Poe doesn’t usually turn into a hermit and tinker unless he’s trying to cure his heart of an ache and this is pretty telling. Poe glares at him from where he’s sitting. “Come to rethink ending the arrangement?” Poe asks without taking his eyes off the hardware he’s working on.

“No,” Snap replies. “I’ve come to fix your little feeling sorry for yourself situation.” He leans back into the hallway, gesturing for Finn to come join him. “C’mon, he’s just being an asshole.”

“I am not,” Poe retorts wildly.

Snap levels him a look that says he knows Poe and he most certainly is. He steps aside to let Finn in, pleased when it forces Poe to sit up a little straighter, fumbling with his too-big sweater to make sure it covers the collarbones slipping out for everyone to see.

“Finn! I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow.” 

It’s kind of adorable how Poe blushes and tries to run his fingers through his hair, as if he doesn’t already look perfect.

“I thought I’d come and clear some things up,” Finn says, stepping into Poe’s bedroom and studying it like he’s just found riches beyond his wildest dreams. “Snap filled me in about how you think that I’m with Rey and that I’m in love with her and we’re going to get married and have perfect looking children?”

“I said they’d be gorgeous, not perfect,” Poe mumbles.

“And I didn’t say any of that,” Snap feels like pointing out.

“Poe,” Finn says with a playful smirk on his lips, “did it ever occur to you that maybe the reason I spend all day around the flight deck and that I try and sit with you at dinner and make it a point to come shower after you do is because I like you?”

“…you and Rey…?”

“We’re best friends,” Finn confirms. “And you’d better believe she needs to approve of you. I mean, if there’s something to approve.” 

Snap’s starting to get the feeling that he’s quickly becoming a third wheel.

“I’ll just…go.”

On his way out, he hears the muffled conversation turn to Poe wondering how much Finn knows about sex and how much Poe can teach him, which is pretty much when Snap decides to drape a sock over the handle of the door, patting it as he leaves them in peace to sort out their issues.

* * *

“So?” Jess prods. “How’d it go?”

“Well,” Snap replies, staring down the canteen to where Poe and Finn are sitting down to dinner with their trays, laughing loudly about something. “Either Poe’s going to very happy for a while or in a few months, we’ll all be run ragged after he forces us to do about ten thousand too many flight drills because he’s trying to mend his broken heart by our vicarious pain.”

She pops a fry into her mouth and leans forward to peer down the table.

“Dameron!” she shouts. “Don’t kriff this up! I like my beauty rest!”

“You need it,” Snap jokes just as loudly, as Poe gives her the finger and then turns to grab Finn by the lapel, giving an obnoxiously tongue-heavy kiss as proof that they’re doing just fine. Snap doesn’t bother to hide his smirk, satisfied that he’s managed to do a good thing and that Poe’s wound up happy as a result.

Now, if only he could figure out who’s in the market for a new arrangement with some benefits, he’d be sitting even prettier.

**Author's Note:**

> [catch me here](http://andrea-lyn.tumblr.com/) on tumblr


End file.
